'Twas the Night Before Christmas…

(Photo by Ray Johnson)

…and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not a even a mouse (literally).

Well, I’m pretty sure that this is not exactly what Clement Clarke Moore — the author of “A Visit from St. Nicholas” or as it is more commonly known, “The Night Before Christmas” — had in mind when he penned his classic poem.

This is certainly not anyone else’s idea of a traditional Christmas story, either.

It seems that 1215 Avenue X and 1219 Avenue X had to be shut down due to a serious rodent problem. Since their homes have been deemed uninhabitable, where are the former residents spending their holidays?

Read more about the creatures not stirring after the jump.

Well, the rodents who managed to escape the poison bait seem to have fled to Oriental Chinese Restaurant at 2901 Ocean Parkway. According to its December 12, 2008 health inspection report, the restaurant racked up 43 violation points with some of those points being attributed to evidence of mice. As for the human residents,it looks as though they fled a while back, possibly right after the closing of the property.

The houses were most likely unoccupied at least since September when the houses last sold and was probably undergoing renovations when the rodent problem was discovered. Something tells me that the people who bought these properties might not have paid $600K for each duplex unit had they known about the situation.

According to the Nextag website, each house has depreciated in value more than $4K since their sale. That might be due to the sagging real estate market. Then again, it might be due to the fact that disease-carrying creatures don’t add any value. Unless of course, your house is named Disney or Pixar.

The Christmasy “keep out” signs posted — by whichever New York City agency is in charge of these things — don’t specifically say that the houses had become the clubhouse for Mickey, Minnie, Ratatouille, Atomic Mouse, Jerry, Despereaux and all other critters of the mouse variety. But, something tells me that no other pest — not even super cockroaches like the ones Homeboy Astronomy says were developed by the Russians in outer space — would have brought down the house. It’s widely known that the understaffed New York city government agencies tend to work faster when a paid lobbyist prods them — as in the case of the controversial building site at 1610 Avenue S.

So, while it’s not the most festive holiday story — it is a Sheepshead Bay one. With that said, we’d like to wish you a very safe and healthy holiday.